After winning a two-year open records battle with the Texas Department of Transportation and the project's main contractor, the Houston Chronicle reported Sunday that a report concluded the two are largely to blame for the delays.

The span connecting La Porte and Baytown, just east of Houston, missed its $91 million original price tag by $26.5 million, coming in fully 29 percent over budget. Worse for commuters, a project supposed to take less than five years had taken more than eight years when it was dedicated in December 1995.

The overruns were so acute that the state took the unusual step of hiring an outside expert to analyze the project. The attorney general's office ordered the report's release to the Chronicle in 1996, a year after the newspaper requested it, but contractor Williams Brothers Construction Co. sued to block it.

The newspaper obtained most of the pertinent documents after a settlement late last year.

The report was largely the basis for the state's payout of the $26.5 million special claim to Williams Brothers. The company had sought $70 million, claiming state errors on the project.

Bobbie F. Templeton, who headed the transportation department's claims committee, said most construction firms hope to recover one-third of what they seek when they ask for additional money beyond the bid amount.

Problems began when Williams Brothers' attempts to find cheap steel in Mexico and South Africa backfired. Unlike the federal government, the state doesn't restrict the use of foreign steel in highway projects.

The report blamed the state for not supervising Williams Brothers closely enough, then conducting overzealous inspections to compensate, wasting time and money.

The expert analysis concluded that the state caused a six-month setback, Williams Brothers was responsible for nearly 10 months of delays and the company's South African steel subcontractor set the project back nearly 17 months.

The three entities combined for another nine-month delay, according to the report. The report later forgave Williams Brothers for its 10-month share, citing environmental permit problems beyond the company's control.

Despite the agony, Templeton said the bridge still is an engineering monument and an asset to the region.